Border Areas beyond the Tip of the Iceberg. Civic Activism around the Silos in Trieste

This article explores civic activism and informal hospitality along the Balkan route, focusing on the border city of Trieste and the Silos, an abandoned building that has served as an informal hub for displaced people for nearly a decade. Using an ethnographic approach, it examines how activists, humanitarian organizations, migrants, and citizens have created complex entanglements of solidarity beyond formal reception systems. Through the iceberg metaphor, the Silos is portrayed as a space where visible securitarian and humanitarian narratives form only the “tip,” while the submerged layer consists of civic engagement with transformative potential. By shifting attention from border regimes to everyday practices around the Silos, the analysis shows how grassroots solidarity can reshape local identities and concepts of citizenship, emphasizing the liminal and participatory nature of frontier spaces.